I’ve broken the mould of being typecast, says Kajal Aggarwal

The southern star speaks about conman drama 'Mosagallu', work post marriage, and getting duped by fraudsters online

Fourteenth year in filmdom. What explains her longevity in surviving the high tides of seemingly challenging and cut-throat competition? “All I can say is discipline and constant experimenting, upgrading myself. Like we upgrade our gadgets every time. That’s the key to success in any profession. Stagnation has no value. Putting myself under pressure, accept challenges and being versatile. I don’t think I’ve achieved anything to my potential yet. There’s a long way to go,” Kajal says.

Mosagallu is something she has been dreaming to take off. With everything in place now, the cybercrime thriller is set to hit the screens this Friday. “More than anything else, there is so much drama to tell audiences in it. Besides an ensemble star cast of Sunil Shetty, Manchu Manoj, Navdeep and Naveen Chandra, the experience of working with Hollywood director Jeffrey Gee Chin was priceless. It was so tiring that we got to shoot only two sequences in an entire day; imagine how much effort would have gone into the making. Rehearse it first, then get in into the mode to shoot for the English version and then for the Telugu,” she adds.

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On being typecast…

Kajal is not afraid of getting typecast after Mosagallu in which she is playing the sister character of Manchu Vishnu. “I don’t think it is a serious issue. I’ve passed that phase of my career. I’m also more into experimenting with different genres now. But earlier, I was not comfortable in experimenting with roles on-screen. Typecasting is gradually reducing with the change of content and audiences. Filmmakers are trying out different things. Going to the core, getting typecast is a very personal thing where one has to break it himself/ herself. I think I’ve already broken it. Sita was a different one, Mosagallu is again has a different shade. Eventually, with time, it will break itself. I don’t have to put in extra effort to remove it,” she laughs.

Kajal says she has her own censor formalities if she had to play any negative kind of roles.”I would pick it if it is irresistible and I will do it if it is amazingly challenging.” Kajal plays the woman who makes a ploy along with her brother (Manchu Vishnu) to rob millions of dollars in the cybercrime drama.

Ask her if she ever got duped by conmen? Kajal admits that she was duped by fraudsters online and eventually got yelled at by her dad. “That was a wrong website, I purchased something; but it hurts… it doesn’t matter how big or small,” she adds.

Digital medium

Talking about her last digital outing Live Telecast, the actor says, “Digital can be very tricky. I hoped it would be released in lockdown, but it didn’t happen. The timing was really not good. In 2021, everyone started releasing projects and there was a flood of content. I think it was lost in the flood. Secondly, I felt that technicalities could have been stronger. When I heard the story, I thought it was an interesting role to take up. But then, there was a lapse in technicalities which I think should’ve been taken care of better,” she adds.

Post marriage

Working post-marriage might have brought many changes in Kajal, for sure. “It must be so tiring for women at home taking care of every task from raising children to working on deadlines. All of us should be thankful to such women. Now I’m gradually understanding with how difficult it was for my mom to raise us,” she says while sharing some more insights into her married life and about her hubby Gautam Kitchlu.

“He is not a “morning person” whereas I love to jump out of bed and get ready in a blink of an eye. And he doesn’t watch movies alone. I’ve to sit beside him and like a mother spoon-feeding his child,” shares the actor jokingly.

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